Strategicon 2016: Finally playing Virgin Queen
I can’t believe it’s been a week since Strategicon! I’m seriously having convention withdrawal. My Phoenix friend and I decided to go to OrcCon for two very different reasons. I wanted to play Virgin Queen, which was slated for 11 hours of game play, and he wanted to play Mega Civilization, which was slated for 14 hours of play. And guess what? Both of us succeeded in doing so! Huzzah!
We arrived at the convention Friday afternoon and immediately started gaming. The first game I played was Formula D. It’s a fun little racing game where you “shift” gears, with each gear moving at a different speed. You roll a different dice for each gear, and that’s how you move along the track. But there are spaces along the track that you need to spend some time in, or else an engine component or tires will suffer wear and tear. If you lose some of these components completely, you’ll be eliminated from the game.
Next up was Blood Rage. I actually sat in on the tutorial that happened before the game started, so I got a chance to really know the mechanics of the game. That’s one of the cool things about Strategicon. Some of the games have the 101 class before game play, so you can figure out if you want to continue into a full game right after. In Blood Rage, you’re a Viking clan pillaging and winning battles, as well as increasing your strength and completing objective cards. The game has individual miniatures for each clan, as well as some monster figurines that can be summoned. Also, now I know what Valhalla is … where noble Vikings go in the afterlife.
I headed up to my room before midnight so that I can read some more on Virgin Queen and get a good night’s sleep. At this point in the week, I was still walking around with the 44 page rule book re-reading it whenever I could. And then it was the day I was waiting for — Saturday was Virgin Queen Day! I first heard of this game two years ago, and, even though one of my friends owns it, he’s never been able to gather enough people to commit to such a long game.
I wandered up to the war games room at the convention and got into a 6-person of game of Virgin Queen. And it was glorious! I played as France, which gains victory points by marrying off its royals, securing Paris at every turn, and investing in artists and scientists. I also managed to circumnavigate the globe with one of my sea captains, giving me 2 VPs. Each round averaged about 2 to 2.5 hours.
The basic gist of the game is that you get a hand of cards each round, and, in turn order, you play cards for their command points or for the event on the card. Command points can be spent on moving troops or boats, adding troops or building boats, suppressing heresy, improving diplomatic relations, investigating in artists or scientists. You can also commit espionage and assassinate political leaders.
Diplomacy is also a big part of the game. Negotiating alliances and marriages help secure victory points. I didn’t do too much attacking; I let the Protestants and Spain fight it out amongst themselves, while I racked up VPs. I ended up being tied for lead going into Round 4, and that’s when England, the Protestants and Spain all declared war on me. Alas … the game ended at the end of Round 4. I ended up coming in third, one point shy from second place England. The Holy Roman Empire ended up running away with the game. I spent pretty much all of Saturday playing this game, and I was not disappointed! Now if only I can get my friend to actually set up a game of this in Phoenix ….
Sunday was a more chill day for me, but it was quite the opposite for my friend. He ended up playing about 14 hours of Mega Civilization. I kind of wish I had time to read up on this game, because from how he described it, it sounds like all kinds of awesome. The game can actually accommodate 18 people, but only 12 people had signed up for this game. I watched from afar the intensity of the game’s trading phase. People had 10 minutes to trade cards to collect sets to later turn in for technology. The trick is, you have to be honest about the first two cards you give, and then the rest … anything goes. Each player is trying to avoid calamity cards that will wipe you out. My friend enjoyed playing it so much that I’m totally intrigued and will likely play it the next time I happen upon it.
I played a quick game of Airlines: Europe on Sunday. I really enjoy this game, but I play it so infrequently (and coupled with the fact that I do horribly in stock games) that I came in last place. The next game was one I was super duper excited about playing for the first time: Cthulhu Wars! This game retails at $200, which is way out of my budget, but it seriously is so cool. The miniatures, if I can even call them that, are large, well-made and just so freaky! It’s an area control game where you place cultists, monsters and a Great Old One on the board, in addition to opening gates. I had so much fun playing this game. My friend back in Phoenix just purchased this game. I can’t wait to get it on table!
Lastly, I played Nexus Ops, which is a light war game where you gain victory points doing battle and completing objectives. This game also had some pretty neat plastic alien races, which have similar as Axis and Allies, a game I’ve played many times early on in my gaming hobby. You move your aliens across a hex board, and roll dice during battle based on the alien’s combat score.
And then just like that, over 3 days of non-stop gaming flew by. I had such a great time going to the convention with a friend (which came in handy during Virgin Queen, when I couldn’t leave the table to get food. My friend dropped off a sandwich for me). We also both had some vendor cash ($10 from Virgin Queen, $3 from Formula D) from our game tournament winnings, so I ended up using it to buy Orleans. We both had so much fun that we’re already making plans for the convention in May! See you next time, Strategicon!
